Intelligent personalized customer service

Abstract

A system for providing intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal in a wireless telecommunication network is disclosed. Wireless terminal location is monitored and used to determine location-specific customer service information that is specific to the wireless terminal. The customer service information is delivered to the wireless terminal and displayed in human-readable form. The process is repeated as necessary to update the customer service information whenever the wireless terminal travels to a new location area.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for providing intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal in a wireless telecommunication network, comprising the steps of: 
 monitoring wireless terminal location;    using said wireless terminal location to determine location-specific customer service information for delivery to said wireless terminal; and    delivering said customer service information to said wireless terminal.    
     
     
         2 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said customer service information comprises product information.  
     
     
         3 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said customer service information is determined based on customer specification of one or more information categories.  
     
     
         4 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said monitoring step includes requesting mobile location update events from a wireless network mobile location server and monitoring said update events as they are received.  
     
     
         5 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said monitoring step includes determining whether a change in location of said wireless terminal exceeds a location area size threshold.  
     
     
         6 . A method in accordance with  claim 5  wherein said location area threshold is based on customer specification of location area size.  
     
     
         7 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said customer service information determining step includes consulting one or more databases containing location-specific customer service information.  
     
     
         8 . A method in accordance with  claim 7  wherein said customer service information determining step further includes consulting a customer profile database to determine a category of customer service information specified by a customer.  
     
     
         9 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said delivering step includes delivering said customer service information to said wireless terminal as an electronic document.  
     
     
         10 . A method in accordance with  claim 1  further including displaying said customer service information on a text-based or graphical display screen.  
     
     
         11 . A system for providing intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal, comprising: 
 means for monitoring wireless terminal location;    means for using said wireless terminal location to determine location-specific customer service information for delivery to said wireless terminal; and    means for delivering said customer service information to said wireless terminal.    
     
     
         12 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said customer service information comprises product information.  
     
     
         13 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said customer service information is determined based on customer specification of one or more information categories.  
     
     
         14 . A system in accordance with  claim 1  wherein said monitoring means includes means for requesting mobile location update events from a wireless network mobile location server and monitoring said update events as they are received.  
     
     
         15 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said monitoring means includes means for determining whether a change in location of said wireless terminal exceeds a location area size threshold.  
     
     
         16 . A system in accordance with  claim 15  wherein said location area threshold is based on customer specification of location area size.  
     
     
         17 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said customer service information determining means includes means for consulting one or more databases containing location-specific customer service information.  
     
     
         18 . A system in accordance with  claim 17  wherein said customer service information determining means further includes consulting a customer profile database to determine a category of customer service information specified by a customer.  
     
     
         19 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said delivering means includes means for delivering said customer service information to said wireless terminal as an electronic document.  
     
     
         20 . A system in accordance with  claim 11  wherein said wireless terminal includes displaying means for displaying said customer service information on a text-based or graphical display screen.  
     
     
         21 . A wireless network resource group for providing intelligent personalized customer service to wireless terminals in cooperation with a data network resource group in a data network, comprising: 
 a set of wireless network resources supporting data communication on behalf of a plurality of wireless terminals over an air interface;    a mobile location server adapted to maintain location information for said wireless terminals;    first means in said mobile location server for receiving a request from a data network application server to report wireless terminal location changes to said data network resource;    second means in said mobile location server for setting a location update event notification flag in response to receiving said request from said data network application server; and    third means in said mobile location server for periodically notifying said data network application server of wireless terminal location changes.    
     
     
         22 . A data network resource group for providing intelligent personalized customer service to wireless terminals in cooperation with a wireless network resource group in a wireless network, comprising: 
 a user profile server adapted to store user profile information;    a vendor inventory server adapted to store location-specific customer service information;    an application server adapted to manage said personalized customer service;    a service request agent associated with said application server for registering requests from wireless terminals for personalized customer service;    a service profile associated with said application server containing service area information;    an intelligent agent associated with said application server for monitoring wireless terminal location information provided by a mobile location server and for comparing said location information with said service area information;    said intelligent agent being further adapted to obtain said user profile information from said first data network resource;    said intelligent agent being further adapted to obtain said location-specific customer service information from said vendor inventory server; and    a document formatter for outputting said location-specific customer service information for delivery to wireless terminals.    
     
     
         23 . In a data network wireless telephony application server, a method for providing intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal, comprising the steps of: 
 receiving wireless terminal location information;    querying a user profile server to identify user profile information relative to said wireless terminal;    querying a vendor inventory server selected according to said user profile information and receiving personalized customer service information in response to said query; and    outputting said personalized customer service information for delivery to said wireless terminal.    
     
     
         24 . A data network wireless telephony application server adapted to provide intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal, comprising: 
 means for receiving wireless terminal location information;    means for querying a user profile server to identify user profile information relative to said wireless terminal;    means for querying a vendor inventory server selected according to said user profile information and receiving personalized customer service information in response to said query; and    means for outputting said personalized customer service information for delivery to said wireless terminal.    
     
     
         25 . A data network user profile server for supporting intelligent personalized customer service to a wireless terminal in a wireless network, comprising: 
 a graphical user interface adapted to prompt for and receive customer service information;    a data storage resource for storing said customer service information as user profile information; and    said user profile server being responsive to user profile information queries from a data network query requester.